The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Burning Of The Gaspee (6/10/1772) - Oct 23rd, 2003

bucklinsociety.net ^

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer.

If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions.

We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.

To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.

The Burning Of The Gaspee

Joseph Bucklin fired a musket and hit a British military officer in an intentional attack on the English Navy. That shot caused the immediate surrender of the English Navy ship Gaspee. In short: Joseph fired the most important shot in the capture and burning of the ship Gaspee. Some call this shot the first shot in the American Revolution.

Historians accord various degrees of importance to the Gaspee Affair as pushing the American and English into the American Revolution. But there is general agreement historians that the shot fired by Joseph was the first time an American deliberately shot a specific English military man as a part of a deliberate attack --- planned by colony leaders --- on the English military forces.

Joseph's shot of the English military officer, and the destruction of the English ship were the first acts the English legal authorities formally labeled as treason and an act of war.

The Gaspee was an English revenue cutter, preventing smuggling and collecting taxes. When the Gaspee went aground, a number of men of the Providence area rowed out, and attacked the ship. Joseph Bucklin shot and wounded the English Navy captain, the attackers successfully boarded and overpowered the crew, the attackers took the English navy crew off the ship, and burned the Gaspee. The English Attorney General gave a legal opinion that it was "treason" and an "act of war". England attempted to find who was involved, and bring the attackers back to be tried in England. The colonists insisted that this violated the rights of Englishmen to be tried by a jury of their own vicarage. Although the attackers included many prominent men of Rhode Island, the people of Rhode Island successfully kept the identity of the attackers secret from the English until after the end of the Revolutionary War.

The Story

The Rhode Island 1772 attack on the British Navy's armed schooner Gaspee gives us insight into the thoughts and motives of the American colonists in the years immediately preceding the 1775 battles of Concord and Lexington. The men who led the assault on the King's ship Gaspee were not struggling farmers, or persons without land, apprentices, or unemployed sailors. The leaders of this assault were leaders of the Rhode Island colony: merchants, sea captains, and lawyers - some of them members of the General Assembly. The leaders were not acting on the spur of the moment, because of some immediate action of a tax collector. The attack was planned, by men who had thought about the structure of society and the relationship there should be between Rhode Island and the English in England.



The shooting of the English navy commander was not planned, but obviously taking 100 men to the Gaspee meant that the Rhode Island attackers expected the use of force to board the Gaspee.

After the attack, the English Attorney General joined with the English Solicitor General in London to give a formal opinion by the most senior law officials of the day that the attack was "treason" and an "act of war." Until then, each of the acts of violence or resistance by the colonists had not been so labeled by the English legal system. Little wonder that the Rhode Island governor feared that in retaliation to the Gaspee attack, there would be an invasion of the colony by the British troops then stationed in Boston.

Early in 1772 the British Government sent ships, including the Gaspee and Beaver, armed navy schooners, to Rhode Island with orders to assist the Revenue Officers of the colony in stamping out smuggling and illicit trade. Lieutenant Dudingston, Commander of the Gaspee, was an energetic young officer who detested what he called the 'piratical scum' that piloted their ships on the seaways of Rhode Island. It is true that the Rhode Island ship captains and merchants made a regular business of smuggling and otherwise ignoring the imperial English taxes on Americans importing goods. Among the 'piratical scum' were some of America's great sea captains: Abraham Whipple, Samuel Dunn, John Hopkins, Joseph Tillinghast, and Simeon Potter.


John Brown

Dudingston proceeded to make his ship an anathema to the seafarers of the colony. He stopped and searched all ships that entered Narragansett Bay, not pleasantly, but in a harsh manner intended to secure obeisance of his commands. The cargoes of two coastal ships were impounded, and, in probable violation of the law, he sent them, not to the local Rhode Island court for condemnation as smuggling ships, but to Boston for trial. Governor Wanton of Rhode Island sent a vigorous protest to Admiral Montague, Commander of the British North American Fleet and Dudingston's superior. In reply Wanton received an insolent letter threatening to hang anyone who might attempt to obstruct his officers in the performance of their duties. Governor Wanton then sent a letter of complaint to the Earl of Hillsborough, one of England's Secretaries of State.


Joseph Tillinghast

Meanwhile the interference with what the Rhode Island merchants thought of as lawful trade (and the English thought of as smuggling) continued, and the bitterness of the colonials mounted. Then fate, guided by Captain Benjamin Lindsey, gave the Rhode Islanders an opportunity to repay the pestiferous Lieutenant Dudingston.

About noon on June 9, Captain Lindsey, in command of the sloop Hannah, arrived at Newport from New York and after reporting her cargo at the Custom House, proceeded up the river toward Providence. The Hannah had cleared the Newport harbor when the Gaspee, like a watchdog, moved to intercept the Hannah.. Lieutenant Dudingston signaled the Hannah to hove to for boarding but Captain Lindsey did not obey. Either as a plan to ground the Gaspee, or on the spur of the moment, the response of Lindsey was to not stop, but rather flee and let the British pursue.

Pursue they did. All afternoon the two ships tacked back and torch against a northwest breeze. Lindsey's kept the Hannah out of cannon range of her pursuer. As they neared Providence, the American skipper, who knew these waters like the back of his hand, instead of fleeing sensibly, tacked his ship sharply to westward, clearing a long underwater sand-bar at Namquid Point, then in apparent confusion tacked further toward shore and lost headway. Lieutenant Dudingston headed the Gaspee straight toward his quarry, confident that a quick straight course would win the prize. With all sails set, the Gaspee plowed into the underwater sand bar and was firmly grounded.



The British sailors watched the Hannah turn and sail toward Providence. Captain Lindsey immediately went ashore and reported the plight of the Gaspee to John Brown, a member of one of the richest and most influential merchant firms in colonial America.

John Brown, several years before, had been grounded on this same point with the same moon and tide conditions. He knew that the English ship would be hard aground until flood tide - about three o'clock the next morning, and the night would be dark.

[aomagrat]

Glad to see your computer is un-toddler-ized. :)

It's amazing how much damage pressing random keys followed by "enter" can do.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. So how high up is the keyboard now?

btw- see post #18 for a comment on the paint job by gridlock. ;)

[snippy_about_it]

That's supposed to make it harder to see? I guess those Navy guys knew what they were doing, but that looks like it would stand out like a five ball on the middle of a green pool table...

Good morning gridlock, I thought it was quite blinding, yikes. We'll have to see what aomagrat says about it or SAM or maybe Gator Navy is up and about.

It looks like it just screams "here I am". LOL.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning feather.

I'll be leaving you notes on the Dragon Flies Lair for you today. :)

[aomagrat]

It wasn't susposed to make it harder to see. It was susposed to make it hard for enemy submarines to determine range course and speed when veiwed through a periscope.

It'd work on me. I got dizzy just looking at the picture. I can't imagine what it would look like through a periscope.

[aomagrat]

see post 25

[Samwise]

G'morning SAM, another good one.

[snippy_about_it]

Oh good. I'm glad I wasn't the only one getting dizzy looking at that.

Thanks for the clarification on the reason for the bizarre paint job aomagrat.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Good morning, all!

A gray morning here but another fine thread helps take the edge off that. Hope this finds you well. :)

[gridlock]

I can't imagine what it would look like through a periscope.

Maybe they couln't calculate range because they were all laughing too hard!

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Colonel.

In the grand scheme of things we are fine!

How about you, all unpacked? Enjoying the new digs?

[Soaring Feather]

snippy, I'll be on the look out for the little notes!LOL

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on October 23:
1752 Nicolas Appert inventor (food canning, bouillon tablet)
1844 Louis Riel Manitoba, leader of insurrection of M‚tis
1844 Robert Bridges poet laureate of England (The Testament of Beauty)
1868 Rama V [Chulalongkorn], leader of Thailand (-1910)
1905 Felix Bloch US physicist (Nobel 1952)
1906 Gertrude Ederle US, swimmer (Olympic-gold-1924)
1910 Hayden Rorke Brooklyn NY, actor (Dr Bellows-I Dream of Jeannie)
1914 Frank (Bruiser) Kinard NFL, AAFC tackle (Brooklyn, NY Yankees)
1917 Robert Bray Kalispell Mont, actor (Corey-Lassie, Stagecoach West)
1918 James Daly Wisc, actor (Medical Center)
1922 Coleen Gray Staplehurst Nebraska, actress (Apache Drums)
1923 Frank Sutton Clarksville Tenn, actor (Sgt Carter-Gomer Pyle USMC)
1923 Ned Rorem Richmond Indiana, composer/author (Sky Music)
1925 Johnny Carson Corning Iowa, comedian (Tonight Show, Who Do You Trust)
1927 Dezs” Gyarmati Hungary, water polo player (Olympic-gold-1956, 60, 64)
1931 Diana Dors England, actress (Berserk!, Steaming)
1931 Jim Bunning Phillies pitcher (perfect Game against Mets 1965)
1932 Dimitra Arliss actress (Rich Man Poor Man II)
1935 Chi Chi Rodriguez golfer (PGA Seniors-1987)
1938 John Heinz (Sen-R-Pa)
1938 Jordan Christopher Youngstown Ohio, actor (Secrets of Midland Heights)
1940 Edison Pel‚ Brazil, soccer player extraordinaire (NY Cosmos)
1940 Jordan Christopher Youngston Oh, actor (Return of the 7)
1941 Greg Ridley bassist (Spooky Tooth-It's All About)
1942 Michael Crichton US novelist (Andromeda Strain, Congo, Looker)
1946 Miklos Nemeth Hungary, javelin thrower (Olympic-gold-1976)
1951 Michael Rupert Denver Colo, actor (Pasadena Playhouse)
1956 Darrell Place US, archer (Olympic-gold-1976)
1956 Dwight Yoakum country singer (If There Was a Way)
1959 "Weird Al" Yankovic parody singer (Eat It, UHF, Naked Gun)
1962 Doug Flute WFL/NFL QB (Generals, Bears, Patriots)
1963 Katherine Hushaw Anaheim Ca, playmate (Oct, 1986)
1969 Brooke Theiss Calif, actress (Wendy-Just the 10 of Us, Good & Evil)
1974 Kaleena Kiff Santa Monica Calif, actress (Patti-Love Sidney)

---

Deaths which occurred on October 23:
42BC Marcus Junius Brutus, a leading conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar, commits suicide after his defeat at the Battle of Philippi [H]
1260 Koetoez, Turkish sultan of Egypt, murdered
1450 Juan de Capestrano, Italian saint, dies at 70
1903 Francis Ellingwood Abbot theologian (Scientific Theism), dies at 66
1915 W.G. Grace British cricketer, dies
1935 Dutch Schultz [Arthur Flegenheimer], US gangster, murdered at 33
1935 Otto "Aba Daba" Berman, US gangster, murdered
1939 - Zane Grey, US western writer (Spirit of the Border), dies at 67
1978 Mother Maybelle Carter country singer (Johnny Cash Show), dies at 69
1983 Jessica Savitch Margate NJ, newscaster (NBC Weekend), dies at 36
1983 Tamara Shayne actress, dies at 80 of a heart attack
1984 David Gorcey dead end kid actor, dies at 63 in a diabetic coma
1984 Oskar Werner actor, dies of a heart attack at 61
1994 - Robert Lansing, actor (Twelve O'Clock High) dies of cancer at 66

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION


NO ONE REPORTED MISSING TODAY!!!!
Hip Hip hooray!!!



POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

---

On this day...
1668 Jews of Barbados forbidden to engage in retail trade
1679 Meal Tub Plot against James II of England
1690 Revolt in Haarlem, Holland after public ban on smoking
1775 Continental Congress approves resolution barring blacks from army
1783 Virginia emancipates slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War
1790 Slaves revolt in Haiti (later suppressed)
1805 Sailing ship "Aeneus" sinks off Newfoundland killing 340
1864 Battle of Westport, Missouri
1864 Union Gen Samuel R Curtis defeats Conf Gen Stirling Price
1871 Columbia & Sappho (US) beat Livonia (UK) in 3rd America's Cup
1876 New Orleans Mint reopens as an assay office
1884 1st world series OKed by AA, Providence (NL) beats NY Mets (AA) 6-0
1888 Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, vested
1890 The opera "Prince Igor" is produced (St Petersburg)
1910 Blanche Scott became 1st woman solo a public airplane flight
1910 Phila A's beat Chicago Cubs 4 games to 1 in 7th World Series
1915 1st national horseshoe throwing championship (Kellerton, Iowa)
1915 25,000 women march in NYC, demanding right to vote
1917 1st Infantry division "Big Red One" shoots 1st US shot in WW I
1921 Green Bay Packers play 1st NFL game, 7-6 win over Minneapolis(damn cheeseheads)
1927 City of Netanya, Israel founded
1932 "Fred Allen Show" premieres on radio
1941 Walt Disney's "Dumbo" released
1942 During WW II, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt
1944 Soviet army invades Hungary
1945 Jackie Robinson signs Montr‚al Royal contract
1946 UN General Assembly 2nd session convenes (1st NYC) (Flushing Meadows)
1947 NAACP petition on racism, "An Appeal to the World" presented to UN
1954 Britain, England, France & USSR agree to end occupation of Germany
1956 1st video recording on magnetic tape televised coast-to-coast
1956 Hungarian Revolution began
1956 Revolt against Stalinist policies began in Hungary
1957 1st test firing of Vanguard satellite launch vehicle, TV-3
1958 Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak, wins Nobel Prize for Literature
1958 USSR lends money to UAR to build Aswan High Dam
1962 USAF Major Robert A Rushworth takes X-15 to 40,800 m
1964 Japanese beat Russian for 1st Olympic Gold in woman's volleyball
1967 NJ Americans (later NY/NJ Nets) play 1st ABA game
1968 Kip Keino (Kenya) wins gold medal for 1,500m (3 min 34.9 sec)
1970 Gary Gabelich sets auto speed record 622.4 mph (1,002 kph)
1973 Nixon agrees to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge Sirica
1973 UN's revised International Telecommunication Convention adopted
1973 Yankee GM & pres Lee MacPhail named AL president
1975 Islander Glenn Resch's 5th shut-out opponent-Flyers 3-0
1977 Panamanians vote 2:1 to approve the new Canal treaties
1980 Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin resigns, due to illness
1981 US national debt hits $1 trillion
1983 241 U.S. Marines and sailors in Lebanon were killed in a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.
1984 NBC airs BBC footage of Ethiopian famine
1984 STS 51-A launch vehicle moves to launch pad
1988 Boston Celtics play Spain in Madrid
1989 George Harrison releases "Best of Dark Horse 1976-89" album
1989 US 62nd manned space mission STS 34 (Atlantis 5) returns from space
1990 Iraq announces release of 330 French hostages
1991 Dr Jack Kevorkian's suicide machine kills 2 women
1998 After nine days of tense negotiations at the Wye Conference Center in Queenstown, Md., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed an agreement to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.
2000 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held groundbreaking talks in North Korea with communist leader Kim Jong Il and attended a huge spectacle of 100,000 performers honoring her host.
2001 U.S.-led forces maintained their intense pressure on the Taliban, pounding positions around the Afghan capitol of Kabul and the militia's southern stronghold of Kandahar for the 17th consecutive day. Vice President Dick Cheney was given the International Republican Institute's 2001 Freedom Award. He promised the war against terrorism being waged in Afghanistan would be "relentless."

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Thailand : Chulalongkorn Day (1868)
US : United States Day
US : Mother-in-Law's Day (Sunday)
US some states : Veterans Day (Monday)
US : Francis E Willard Day-temperance day (Friday)
Afghanistan : Id-Qurban Day
National Dental Hygiene Week (Day 5)
National Mole Day
National Applejack Month!!
National Hobby Month.
Polish-American Heritage Month

---

Religious Observances
Ang, Orth, Luth : Comm of St James of Jerusalem, Brother of Jesus
RC : Mem, St John of Capistrano, patron of military chaplains (opt)
Jewish : Sh'mini Atz-8th day of Succoth

---

Religious History
4004 (BC) According to the sacred timeline worked out by Archbishop James Ussher, 73, "the heavens and the earth" were created on this date at 9:00 a.m. (GMT). Ussher's "Chronologies of he Old and New Testaments" was first published 1650-54.
1239 In England, the main cathedral at Wells (begun c.1186) was consecrated. The most striking interior feature of the cathedral are the inverted arches (14th century) by which the piers of the tower are strengthened.
1385 In Germany, the University of Heidelberg was founded under Pope Urban VI as a college of the Cistercian order. (Among its faculties today are theology, law, medicine and philosophy.)
1857 Delegates from eight states met in Nashville and organized the Southern Baptist Sunday School Union. The organization proved short-lived, when it was nullified by the onset of the American Civil War.
1871 Birth of Edgar J. Goodspeed, American Greek N.T. scholar. He taught at the University of Chicago 1898-1937. In 1931, he co-authored with JMP Smith "The Bible: An American Translation," better known today as "Smith and Goodspeed."

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

---

Thought for the day :
"It may be that all games are silly. But then, so are humans."

---

You might be a bad driver if...
you see a sign that says, "Lane ends 500 FT," and you manage to drive in the lane for another 1/2 mile

---

Murphys Law of the day...(Bicycle Law)
All bicycles weigh 50 pounds:
A 30-pound bicycle needs a 20-pound lock and chain.
A 40-pound bicycle needs a 10-pound lock and chain.
A 50-pound bicycle needs no lock or chain.

---

Astounding fact #59...
The only city whose name can be spelled completely with vowels is Aiea, Hawaii

[MEG33]

Glad you explained it!The ship looked ready for a carnival!

[MEG33]

Great story!

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you and good morning.

[w_over_w]

Morning Glory Snip & Sam~

This moment in history speaks volumes about why America is such a great and blessed country.

[snippy_about_it]

1917 1st Infantry division "Big Red One" shoots 1st US shot in WW I

[snippy_about_it]

This moment in history speaks volumes about why America is such a great and blessed country.

It does doesn't it!

Good morning w/w.

[w_over_w]

1921 Green Bay Packers play 1st NFL game, 7-6 win over Minneapolis(damn cheeseheads)

Did they really say that back in '21 or are you rewriting history?